Perhaps the most crucial achievement in Daniel Farke’s time at Leeds United is that the German has managed to create an environment where everybody is pulling in the right direction.
The man himself admits to preferring a smaller, more tight-knit squad.
So the collection of players accumulated at Leeds United, on paper, may be a little larger than Daniel Farke would ideally have liked. Yet, despite placing such talents as Willy Gnonto, Joe Rothwell, Max Wober and Largie Ramazani on the bench in recent months, it’s telling that there has not even been the slightest hint of discontent behind the scenes.
And as Rothwell and Struijk stepped off the bench to stun Sunderland a few weeks back – the former setting up the latter twice in the final 15 minutes or so – Farke has clearly succeeded in created an environment where those outside of the XI are content to fight for their place rather than bemoan a spot on the bench.
As Rothwell explained, following his first start in five Championship outings against West Brom on Saturday, Daniel Farke is willing to give out ‘rewards’ to those who have earned them.
“I enjoyed it,” the Bournemouth loanee said. “I tried to make an impact [in my recent substitute appearances]. I got my rewards with a start.”
The biggest test, however, is still to come.
Farke twice led Norwich City into the Premier League. The first time round, an immediate return to the Championship would follow only a year later. The second, Farke was sacked only months into 2021/22 after losing a record 15th consecutive top-flight game. It wasn’t just any old loss either.
A 7-0 obliteration at the hands of Chelsea.
With Leeds three points clear and very well-placed to secure first division football again, only time will tell whether Farke has learned from previous failings.
Daniel Farke hopes to get it right at the third attempt with Leeds United
Somehow, for some reason, the job Daniel Farke has done at Leeds United appears to have gone strangely under the radar. There almost seems to have been an expectation, from the wider footballing public, that a place at the top of the standings was simply inevitable for Farke and Leeds.
The context surrounding his time at Elland Road, however, shows that success was anything but inevitable.
Lest we forget, Leeds lost arguably their three standout performers last summer. Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and the reigning Championship Player of the Year Crysencio Summerville. Then, there is the situation he walked into in West Yorkshire in the first place.
A Leeds side who had been relegated in chaotic circumstances that previous season, going through a rolodex of head coaches and facing uncertainty in the ownership department.
The Yorkshire giants lost approximately 15 first-team players across that 2022/23 campaign. Yet, thanks largely to the quiet authority exuded by the ever-patient Farke, they would come within a whisker of promotion.
When you consider how other clubs have fared over the years following relegation – Stoke City, for instance, being a prime example – do not underestimate just how difficult it can be laying the foundations for a new start amidst the rubble of the old regime.
Especially when the skies are clouded by financial concerns and uncertainty in the boardroom.
Jurgen Klopp knows Daniel Farke better than most. The Leeds boss spent two years working as Borussia Dortmund’s youth-team coach, after all.
“I like Daniel a lot. He’s a really good guy,” Klopp said back in 2021. “He’s a world-class coach.”
Three years on, as Leeds close in on a return to the Premier League only two years after one of the most calamitous seasons in recent history, Klopp’s comments are starting to age pretty nicely.
Farke can live up to Jurgen Klopp’s praise back in the Premier League
Still, Farke has a lot to prove.
The nature of his Norwich departure, and their relegation a couple of years prior, means question marks still hang over the German’s head.
“The manager has to take responsibility because he got it wrong but it didn’t look like they were playing for him,” former Chelsea playmaker Joe Cole said after that seven-goal trouncing in West London in October 2021, the result which all-but secured his sacking.
“The problem is with Farke.”
Two Premier League campaigns, one relegation and one November sacking.
Daniel Farke deserves immense credit for putting Leeds on the brink of promotion. Especially after losing Archie Gray, Georginio Rutter and Crysencio Summerville last summer. But the challenge now is whether the man in the Elland Road hotseat can avoid tripping at a very familiar hurdle.
Though, as he has demonstrated throughout nearly two seasons in West Yorkshire, Farke is a coach who excels in situations others would shy away from.
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